Menu
Yoga for Nervous System Regulation | Spring Class 2
In This Series
Menu
New here? Read this first!
Yoga for Nervous System Regulation is a unique program combining yogic tradition with neuroscience to help students engage with the nervous system, calm stress responses, and cultivate peace and resilience in body and mind. Learn more about the program here.
Here’s what you need to know to get the most out of this practice.
- Please complete the entire Spring Series in order before moving on to subsequent series, regardless of the current season. Each series builds upon the material covered in previous seasons, so doing them in sequence is important for your understanding and your safety.
- Yoga is best practiced on an empty stomach, which means no food for 2 hours prior and no beverages for 30 minutes prior. Follow your practice with food and plenty of water. Review the complete Yoga Safety Tips here.
- Each weekly class consists of a playlist of 3 practices to be completed in order. The asana (yoga poses) prepare us for pranayama (breathwork) which prepares us for meditation, which prepares us for life!
- This course is designed to accommodate a range of learning styles. Below the video playlist you’ll find additional visual aids and links to resources that enhance the learning experience.
- Yoga is a very individualized experience, and it’s normal to have questions or concerns. I would love to hear yours! Please submit a comment at the bottom of the page, or follow KMKyoga on Instagram, where I share additional insights, support, and resources with a growing community of fellow practitioners.
Thanks for being here!
In today’s session, we’ll review the importance of ahimsa – no harm – and continue loosening up our spines and hips with some simple asanas. In pranayama, we’ll learn more about the physiology of breath and how in impacts the nervous system. Finally, we’ll incorporate some gentle movement into our meditation.
Remember, yoga is best practiced on an empty stomach. Review the complete Yoga Safety Tips here.
Please don’t hesitate to ask questions in the comments section at the bottom of the page, or by sending me an email at kath@kmkyoga.org. I’m happy to help with clarifications or modifications to ensure your practice is safe, comfortable, and enjoyable.
Find a quiet space with room to move. You may wish to pause notifications on your digital device. Gather your mat, a sturdy chair, some water, and a blanket. When you’re ready, hit Play on the first video in the playlist – asana – to begin.
Enjoy your practice!
In This Series
Menu
This course is provided on a pay-what-you-can basis. If you value what you find here and want to contribute, make a donation. If you’re not able to donate today, please join us for free.
Get course updates, news, and insights about yoga, meditation, neuroscience, and more in your inbox.
Spring Class 2 Video Instruction
Each class playlist consists of three videos to be practiced in order:
Asana ➙ Pranayama ➙ Meditation
The purpose of asana (yoga pose or “seat”) and pranayama (breathwork) are to prepare the body and mind for meditation, where the real magic happens! I strongly suggest you try the classes in sequence, but after you’ve completed the entire sequence at least once, feel free to revisit individual parts as you’d like.
Once you complete a video, the player will automatically advance to the next one in the playlist. You can skip to the next video at any time using the next/previous arrows at the bottom of the player window, or by clicking the icon in the top right corner.
Asana (Pose) Descriptions
The following diagrams are offered as a supplement to today’s asana practice. Use them to quickly reference specific poses in the video, review verbal instructions in written form, and clarify details from the class. Scroll within each text box for transcript excerpts with time stamps indicating when each pose is demonstrated in the Asana video for today’s class.
So … find your seat. Sits-bones on the front edge of your sturdy chair. Knees and feet are hip width apart and your knees are directly over-top of your ankles and heels. Hands rest on that lap anywhere that’s comfortable. Pull your feet a little bit. Don’t really move the feet. Remember just that … pulling to find the pelvic angle lift and then relax that and let it go.
00:01:19:04 – 00:02:03:12
Stay in this position. Take a long, gentle inhale that makes you a little taller … and on exhale, close eyes, if that’s comfortable and just soften. Maybe you can soften your ears and shoulders away from each other and then bring your attention to the breath in your nose. Feel the coolness of the inhale, the warmth of the exhale, then shift your focus to your throat.
00:02:03:14 – 00:02:28:22
Notice the breath traveling through your throat. Let’s continue to focus on temperatures so … the coolness of the inhale, if you can feel that in your throat. Notice how it defines your throat. And then the warmth of exhale.
00:02:29:00 – 00:03:06:03
Let that go and shift your attention to your whole chest. Notice the sensation of inhale, and maybe some of that temperature is still present. Maybe you feel the cool of inhale and the warmth of exhale. Let that focus go and shift your attention down to your belly. Notice how breath moves your belly. We won’t get any temperature changes because the air doesn’t actually go down there.
00:03:06:05 – 00:03:21:01
But … notice the sensation of breath moving your belly.
00:03:21:03 – 00:03:57:17
Let that focus go. And then … remember placing your thumb on your breastbone and the heel of your hand just a little above your navel? The center of your palm is in the center of your body. And feel the breath here. Feel your diaphragm … move. And as you become more familiar with that sensation, you won’t need your hand anymore.
00:03:57:19 – 00:04:34:22
And then notice your whole body breathing from nose to tailbone and tailbone to nose, and then bring eyes open.
00:03:57:19 – 00:04:34:22
And then notice your whole body breathing from nose to tailbone and tailbone to nose, and then bring eyes open. So … let’s begin with checking out our upper back and shoulders. Make sure we’re in good shape for small forward bends, arms down. We’re going to coordinate this again with our breath. So … we’ll exhale before we begin. And, inhale your way up.
00:04:34:23 – 00:04:57:23
Keep your shoulders soft, your neck soft. And … exhale down. I’ll show that one more time. Inhale up. Soft shoulders. Soft neck. Exhale down. Continue at your breath pace … because yours is different than mine.
00:05:01:08 – 00:05:12:09
Let your breath be quiet. It should be soft and quiet.
00:05:12:11 – 00:05:38:19
Finish the one you’re on. Bring that to stillness. And then? You guessed it. I’m going to say, “Notice how you feel.” Make sure that your body wants to go on to the next step. Okay. Let’s check out our backs.
We’re going to go wide again.
00:05:38:21 – 00:06:03:09
Knees and feet are lined up together. This is important for knee integrity. We’re going to put our palms on our knees. Inhale … here. Keep your torso straight and hinge at the hips. Exhale … forward. Stay straight as long as you can. And then when you can’t … begin to bend down until maybe the top of your
00:06:03:09 – 00:06:40:20
head is pointed to the floor. Bring your attention to the low back and take a long, steady inhale … on exhale, soften your belly and let your lower back release and soften. Bring your attention to the middle of your back and focus your inhale there and … on exhale … let the midback soften. Bring your attention to the upper back and shoulders.
00:06:40:21 – 00:07:16:02
Long, steady inhale. And … on exhale, release the shoulders. Let your neck be limp and soft … and your head hang freely. You might remember from last time that we’re going to take a deep breath here before we come up. And then, inhale your way up … hinging at the hips. Take a moment to notice. Just check in with your body.
00:07:16:04 – 00:07:29:04
And while you’re doing that, we can bring the feet and knees back in to hip width apart, knees over heels and ankles.
00:07:29:06 – 00:07:49:11
Okay, we’re going to put it all together now. But I want you to be cautious. Remember, yoga never hurts. No pain. No pain. So … if you were having any twinges anywhere in your back when we were doing that forward bend holding onto the knees, I want you to hold on again. You won’t be able to do the arm motions.
00:07:49:12 – 00:08:14:09
That’s okay. Your back will eventually, most likely, be happy enough to do it later on, but you have to respect it first. But … if you had no back twinges, we’re going to go ahead and put both motions together.
00:07:29:06 – 00:07:49:11
Okay, we’re going to put it all together now. But I want you to be cautious. Remember, yoga never hurts. No pain. No pain. So … if you were having any twinges anywhere in your back when we were doing that forward bend holding onto the knees, I want you to hold on again. You won’t be able to do the arm motions.
00:07:49:12 – 00:08:14:09
That’s okay. Your back will eventually, most likely, be happy enough to do it later on, but you have to respect it first. But … if you had no back twinges, we’re going to go ahead and put both motions together.
So let your arms hang down. Pull in your feet a little to make sure your spine is long. Exhale here.
00:08:14:11 – 00:08:44:01
Inhale up. Soft shoulders, soft neck, soft arms. And then hinge at the hips as you exhale down, laying on your thighs. Bring your arms down and your fingers will come right to your heels. And your head will hang. Press down with the feet and lift the arms and face up first. And then inhale your way back up again.
00:08:44:02 – 00:09:13:07
I’ll talk you through one more of those as we exhale down, hinging at the hips, lying on your thighs … and let your arms go limp and bring your fingers in to your heels and your head hangs. Let your neck be really limp. This is a wonderful stretch for the neck and upper back. So … I’m going to come back up and I’m going to bring my arms down.
00:09:13:08 – 00:09:23:21
But I’d like you to try a few more of those at your breath pace. Your breath pace is always going to be different and it’s right for you. So … try a few more like that.
00:09:33:10 – 00:10:02:03
And then, you guessed it … notice how you feel. Scan your body. Notice particularly anywhere that feels a little warmer, a little tingly. You’re probably doing some changes there in a positive way. So .. if you were able to do the forward bend with no back pain, we can move on to a standing forward bend with the chair, which is much safer.
So .. if you were able to do the forward bend with no back pain, we can move on to a standing forward bend with the chair, which is much safer.
00:10:02:03 – 00:10:26:00
But I don’t want you to try that if you had any twinges. Doing the full seated forward bend. But if you’re feeling okay, let’s move on. I’m going to turn my chair, but I want you to make sure that your chair is up against a wall so there’s no chance of it sliding on the floor when you’re using it for support in Forward Bend.
00:10:26:02 – 00:10:59:03
So … I’m going to turn my chair around to face the chair. You need your feet to be about hip width apart and you need to be close to the chair. I’m pretty tall. I’m almost 5’10” and I’ve never hit my head on the back of the chair. This is why a forward bend is really a balance pose. You begin by sticking your bottom out, which compensates for the weight of the upper body coming forward.
00:10:59:03 – 00:11:32:08
I still don’t have any sense of falling like I might on a diving board. It’s not that kind of feeling. Practice that a few times … just straight torso, straight legs … come just as far as you are comfortable, but feel that sense of balance as though you’re spreading the weight over a larger area, which is indeed what you’re doing.
00:11:32:09 – 00:11:59:21
Okay, so … we’re not going to take the arms up the first time; we’re going to just let them be limp at our sides and take hold of the chair when it’s in range. So … whenever you’re opening a way from the body, that’s almost always an inhale. Whenever you’re moving towards the body, that’s an exhale. So … we’re going to inhale here.
00:11:59:23 – 00:12:39:23
And then as we exhale, the butt goes out, the limp arms come into contact. I hold on for support and down I come; come back up again and down again, sticking the bottom out, keeping the torso straight until you need to curve down. Please try a few of those at your breath pace.
00:12:45:20 – 00:12:55:11
Notice how you feel. Do a little toe to the top of your head scan and we’ll move on to the next bit.
00:12:55:13 – 00:13:10:09
Keep in mind, too, that you can do as many of those as you would like in the pauses. I’m not telling you do two or three or four; do it until you feel comfortable in breath and body. Explore at your own pace.
00:13:10:19 – 00:13:26:14
You have to remember, in yoga, your ego is not your amigo. You really need to honor your body. And your body will begin to change in ways that are healthy and ways that are useful for you.
00:13:26:16 – 00:13:58:17
But you really can’t push if there’s pain. So … if there was no pain, we’re going to add the same arm movements that we had for the seated forward bend and it’ll look something like this. We’re going to exhale here, inhale up. Then you’re bending and sticking your butt out, bending at the hips, arms down, hands make contact, and just ease down.
00:13:58:19 – 00:14:34:20
You can come back up again and exhale down, sticking that bottom out, no sense of falling whatsoever. And let go of all of your air at the bottom each time. So … try a few more of those at your pace and I’ll check back with you. Remember to you can do as many as you like. There is a point at which when I practice by myself, you’re just not getting any joy out of it any more.
00:14:34:21 – 00:14:53:20
Nothing stretching. Nothing’s feeling stronger. That’s when you want to stop. But when you’re still getting that nice lengthening of the muscles along your spine and the backs of your legs … enjoy that! So … I’ll check back with you in a couple of minutes. Do as many as you want. And then start your video again.
00:15:03:05 – 00:15:36:13
So … let’s just add one more little bit to the forward bend with arm motion. You can also do this without the arm motion, if that’s what you decided to choose for yourself. So … inhale here, exhale and stick the bottom out … bend at the hips … down you come … hold on and soften down. Let go of all of your air. Inhale into your belly.
00:15:36:15 – 00:16:23:13
Exhale and soften the belly; release and soften your low back. Inhale into the mid spine. Soften the top of your belly, and let that part of your spine release and relax. And lastly, inhale into your shoulders. And on exhale, soften shoulders, neck, and let your head hang freely if it’s not resting on the chair. Remember, we’re going to take a big inhale here and exhale because our head is lower than our heart.
00:16:23:15 – 00:16:32:22
And then a big inhale coming up.
Hi, I’m Kath. I teach yoga, breathwork, and meditation as a path to greater somatic awareness and nervous system regulation. Through this practice, I have learned to care for myself so that I can live more peacefully and more purposefully in my body, my mind, and the world. Read my full bio here.
I created KMKyoga for people like me, who can benefit tremendously from yoga but need an option that doesn’t break their bodies or their budget. All KMKyoga classes and learning resources are funded by donations. Learn more.
Comments or questions?
I’d love to hear about your experience with this week’s class and address any concerns you may have. If you’d prefer to reach out privately, send me an email at kath@kmkyoga.org.